Why learn programming jargon?

Have you ever read, listen or watch someone
talking about programming and after a few
seconds realise that you’re far,far away,
thinking about totally different things?

It’s almost like our minds shut down when
we hear something we don’t quite understand.

It’s funny because, I do programming for a really
long time and there are still times when my mind
do this from time to time.

It’s because there are always those niches within
every field where experts develop their own lingo
and when you’re not inside their world, it like listening
to an alien species talking in their own language.

Years ago, I went to a Python conference in Wilnius.

And one of the hot topics back then was a Python version
written in Python itself.

So, I decided to go to one of the lectures to educate myself
on the subject.

After about 10 minutes, I almost fell asleep.

What happened?

Well, right from the beginning, speakers delved deeply into technical details
of their project.

It was full of jargon I didn’t understand, so I wasn’t able to actually
grasp most of the concepts presented there.

I’m sure it sounds familiar.

It happens to all of us, because we’re simply not experts in everything.

Even if what you’re learning something that is not complicated in itself, when you don’t know
the terminology, your mind will assume that this subject matter is indeed very difficult to learn.

Programming is a great example.

There’s nothing special about doing programming.

It’s similar to learning how to use a complex piece of software.

But, there’s this intimidation that every beginner feels.

Some time ago when I was preparing my web mapping course, I had to
refresh my memory on some parts of Javascript syntax.

So, I’ve opened a kindle version of one of Javascript books that I like
and started to go trough one of the chapters.

Then, it hit me.

It sounded so complicated!

I haven’t heard this precise terminology or use it for a really long time.

It became obvious to me why beginners think that programming is complicated.

It’s because it sounds complicated and hard;)

I’ve recently got an idea to explain programming terminology/concepts
only using spatial and GIS terms.

That way you can grasp programming essentials in no time and spend more
time building stuff:)

I don’t know if it’s possible or how far can I actually stretch this,but in the next
post I will explain most import programming concepts in a language that you
can easily understand!